Portland – Official Start -3 days

Well, I arrived safely at 10.30pm last night after 2 long but uneventful flights. I would definately reccommend Continental – easily the best of the American airlines with whom I have flown. A quick painless transfer to the motel (included with the room rate) and then a night without sleep as my arrival time coincided with getting up time in the UK.

It’s now Thurs AM. It has dawned a beautiful sunny cloudless day and a quick check of the Weather Channel shows a forcast high of 95 degrees today and temps over 90 for the next 3 or 4 days. In this part of the world that is a heatwave and everybody is looking forward to partying in the sun on Sat as its the annual 4th July celebrations.

I put the bike back together already this morning and although it appeared to have made transit unscathed, a closer inspection revealed that the dropouts on the front forks have taken a hit. Sufficiently severe to close the gap where the axle locates to a point where it was almost impossible to insert the wheel. A use of brute force ensued and eventually the wheel located. Long term this may yet become a more serious problem – possibly resulting in new forks being required.

2 Responses to “Portland – Official Start -3 days”

Forkin hell Russ!!
Thats a good start and you have’nt even put your weight on the bike yet!!!!
No doubt you drank a few beers to celebrate the 4th July. Did you play Bruce Springsteen’s Independence Day to get in the mood?
Good luck. Watch out for rattlesnakes in the desert states.
Phil.

Have you got used to everyone addressing you in the first instance as that yet? Not a simple or respectful ‘hello’ or good-morning’, but a full, hardy and almost aggressive ‘HEY’ – thought I’d done something wrong when I originally encounted this form of greeting. Now it just boils my piss.

And how much is the beer up there? Any cheaper than the £5+ a pint NYC?